Decree of Canopus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Decree of Canopus (Stone of Canopus) is the memorial stone inscribed by the Pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes, in 239 B.C.E.

This is the earliest of the series of bilingual inscriptions of the "Rosetta Stone Series", the next being the Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy IV), for Ptolemy IV, and the third, final stone, being the Rosetta Stone, inscribed for Ptolemy V, in 196 B.C.E.

Having a greater representation of hieroglyphics than the Rossetta Stone, the Canopus Stone has proved crucial in deciphering them. The stone also shows examples of famine relief, military campaigns, Egyptian religion and governmental organization in Ptolemaic Egypt. Furthermore, the stone describes the most accurate ancient calendar known to the modern world, one with 365 1/4 days per year. Every fourth year, the "Opening of the Year" ceremonies would include an additional sixth-(6th). (The three-season, 120 day seasons required a yearly 5-day festival to be adde to the 360 day year.)

See Ptolemy III, and a discussion under Intercalation (first mention of leap year on the Stone of Canopus) .

See Ptolemy IV, and the Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy IV), for Stone #2.

  • Budge. The Rosetta Stone, E.A.Wallace Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1929, Dover edition(unabridged), 1989.


Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.